Two divergent ways to manage HR and to get to the top: an exploratory study in micro firms

Aim of the paper: The purpose of this paper is to examine human resources management practices (HRM practices) in small firms and to improve the understanding of the relationship between this kind of practices and business growth. This exploratory study is based on the resource-based view of the firm and empirical work carried out in two small firms by relating HRM practices with the firms’ results. Contribution to the literature: This is an in-depth study of HRM practices and its impact on performance growth in micro firms, isolating and controlling for most of the contextual and internal variables considered in the literature that relate HRM to growth. Firm growth analysis was broadened by the use of several dependent variables: employment growth and operational and financial performance growth. Some hypotheses for further research in identifying HRM practices in small business and its relation with firm growth are suggested. Methodology: Case study methodology was used to study two firms. The techniques used to collect data were semi-structured interviews to the owner and all the employees, unstructured observation at the firms’ facilities (during two days), entrepreneur profile definition (survey answer) and document data collection (on demographic characterization and performance results). Data was analyzed through content analysis methodology, and categories derived from the interviews’ protocols and literature. Results and implications: Results revealed that despite the firms’ organizational characteristics similarities, they differ significantly in owners’ motivation to grow, HRM practices and organizational performance and growth. Future studies should pay special attention to owner willingness to grow, to firms’ years of experience in business, to staff’s years of experience in their field of work and turnover. HRM practices in micro/small firms should be better defined and characterized. The external image of management posture relating to longitudinal financial results and growth should also be explored.

Tendências no Twitter

Atualmente as redes sociais fazem parte do dia a dia das pessoas, sendo que para muitas delas essas plataformas tornaram-se imprescindíveis. Quer seja por mera curiosidade ou por uma necessidade imperiosa de partilhar com o mundo as suas ideias ou pensamentos, a verdade é que as pessoas utilizam cada vez mais as redes sociais. O trabalho descrito neste documento pretende explorar uma dessas redes sociais, o Twitter, mais propriamente através do estudo das suas tendências do momento ou trending topics que são expressões referidas pelos utilizadores a uma taxa superior em comparação com outras. São descritas algumas das características do Twitter e dos recursos disponíveis para programadores. Para além do estudo detalhado do Twitter, são extraídos dados de diversas fontes, destacando-se o próprio Twitter, mas também outras plataformas e jornais online. Posteriormente é feita a análise desses dados através da verificação da evolução das tendências ao longo do tempo nos diversos locais em estudo e ainda através do cruzamento de dados das várias fontes de dados, com análise dos resultados obtidos. Na análise efetuada são analisadas as tendências considerando algumas métricas, a sua globalidade, a relação das tendências com tópicos dos jornais online e ainda a sua periodicidade.

Aceitação dos pagamentos móveis em Portugal

O presente estudo pretende ser uma reflexão exploratória sobre a emergência dos serviços de pagamento através de dispositivos móveis. O tema do pagamento é novo em Portugal, e não obstante a grande adesão a inúmeras outras competências proporcionadas pela adesão aos smartphones. Estando o fenómeno numa fase de implementação embrionária considerámos que uma abordagem qualitativa melhor se adequava ao seu estudo. Assim o presente trabalho consiste numa revisão de literatura descrevendo o estado da arte que articula com uma recolha de entrevistas e e posterior análise. Com este trabalho podemos concluir que o fenómeno de pagamentos móveis requer ainda comunicação e vontade institucional dos vários intervenientes que ajude a sua disseminação e promova uma maior aceitação

Disposição para pagar uma intervenção para melhorar o controlo da hipertensão em hipertensos não controlados : um estudo-piloto

RESUMO - A valorização económica de intervenções preventivas pode contribuir para melhorar a afetação de recursos em saúde. A hipertensão, primeira causa de morte em Portugal, é um grave problema de saúde Pública e o principal fator de risco para a ocorrência de Acidente Vascular Cerebral (AVC). O presente estudo é um primeiro ensaio para quantificar a disposição para pagar (DPP) da sociedade por uma intervenção de promoção da adesão à terapêutica em hipertensos não controlados. Foi aplicado um questionário presencial a uma amostra de conveniência (n=93), numa perspetiva ex post, sendo o questionário constituído por dois formatos de questões e dois cenários de diferentes reduções de pressão arterial sistólica (cenário 1 corresponde à redução de 10 mmHg e cenário 2 à redução de 20 mmHg). O risco de AVC a 10 anos foi adaptado à idade e ao sexo de cada participante. Relativamente ao cenário 1, a DPP média foi de €25,87 e €33,93, dependendo do formato da questão (resposta aberta ou bidding game, respetivamente). Na questão de resposta aberta, 78,3% dos participantes estavam dispostos para pagar pela intervenção, no bidding game 75,6% dos participantes referiram estar dispostos para pagar pelo menos €10. No cenário 2, a DPP média foi de €26,81 e €34,79, dependendo se o formato da questão era do tipo resposta aberta ou bidding game, respetivamente. Na questão de resposta aberta, 84,3% dos participantes estavam dispostos para pagar pela intervenção, no bidding game 76,1% dos participantes referiram estar dispostos para pagar pelo menos €10. Ao contrário do bidding game, nas questões de resposta aberta verificou-se 25,8% e 24,7% de respostas “não sei”, para o cenário 1 e cenário 2 respetivamente, diretamente relacionada com a baixa escolaridade dos participantes (p=0,004). Também se verificou uma maior tendência para respostas às questões de bidding game com valores mais elevados, comparativamente às questões de resposta aberta. Identificaram-se duas variáveis explicativas para os valores DPP: o rendimento e a ocupação principal. A sensibilidade dos respondentes à magnitude dos ganhos em saúde foi verificada internamente em cada questionário (os participantes referiram DPP mais elevadas no cenário 2 relativamente ao cenário 1), no entanto, os participantes que beneficiariam mais da intervenção não demonstraram DPP superiores aos restantes. Para confirmar os efeitos identificados neste estudo e extrapolá-los para a população portuguesa é necessário realizar um estudo representativo de população portuguesa.

Introducing Mobile Money in Rural Mozambique: Evidence from a Field Experiment*

The limitations of access to finance in Africa, together with the recent boom in cell phone use in that continent, created high expectations regarding the introduction of mobile money in many African countries. The success story of M-PESA in Kenya raised the bar further. We designed and conducted a field experiment to assess the impact of randomized mobile money dissemination in rural Mozambique. For this purpose we benefit from the fact that mobile money was only recently launched in the country, allowing for the identification of a pure control group. This paper reports on the first results of this ongoing project after the first wave of dissemination efforts in rural locations, which included the recruitment and training of mobile money agents, community meetings and theaters, as well as individual rural campaigning. Administrative and behavioral data both show clear adherence to the services in the treatment group. Financial literacy and trust outcomes are also positively affected by the treatment. We present behavioral evidence that the marginal willingness to remit was increased by the availability of mobile money. Finally, we observe a tendency for mobile money to substitute traditional alternatives for both savings and remittances.

Protest attitudes and stated preferences: Evidence on scale usage heterogeneity

We contribute to the stated preference literature by addressing scale usage heterogeneity regarding how individuals answer attitudinal questions capturing lack of trust in institutions and fairness issues. Using a latent class model, we conduct a contingent valuation study to elicit the willingness-to-pay to preserve a recreational site. We find evidence that respondents within the same class, that is, with similar preferences and attitudes, interpret the Likert scale differently when answering the attitudinal questions. We identify different patterns of scale usage heterogeneity within and across classes and associate them with individual characteristics. Our approach contributes to better a understanding of individual behavior in the presence of protest attitudes.

Protesting or justifying? A latent class model for contingent valuation with attitudinal data

This article develops a latent class model for estimating willingness-to-pay for public goods using simultaneously contingent valuation (CV) and attitudinal data capturing protest attitudes related to the lack of trust in public institutions providing those goods. A measure of the social cost associated with protest responses and the consequent loss in potential contributions for providing the public good is proposed. The presence of potential justification biases is further considered, that is, the possibility that for psychological reasons the response to the CV question affects the answers to the attitudinal questions. The results from our empirical application suggest that psychological factors should not be ignored in CV estimation for policy purposes, allowing for a correct identification of protest responses.

Promoting Portuguese exports to Germany: A hand-on approach for the machinery and equipment sector

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Spiteful Strategies. The ontogeny and the practice of spite in human interaction: an experimental game theory approach and empirical applications

As estratégias de malevolência implicam que um indivíduo pague um custo para infligir um custo superior a um oponente. Como um dos comportamentos fundamentais da sociobiologia, a malevolência tem recebido menos atenção que os seus pares o egoísmo e a cooperação. Contudo, foi estabelecido que a malevolência é uma estratégia viável em populações pequenas quando usada contra indivíduos negativamente geneticamente relacionados pois este comportamento pode i) ser eliminado naturalmente, ou ii) manter-se em equilíbrio com estratégias cooperativas devido à disponibilidade da parte de indivíduos malevolentes de pagar um custo para punir. Esta tese propõe compreender se a propensão para a malevolência nos humanos é inerente ou se esta se desenvolve com a idade. Para esse efeito, considerei duas experiências de teoria de jogos em crianças em ambiente escolar com idades entre os 6 e os 22 anos. A primeira, um jogo 2x2 foi testada com duas variantes: 1) um prémio foi atribuído a ambos os jogadores, proporcionalmente aos pontos acumulados; 2), um prémio foi atribuído ao jogador com mais pontos. O jogo foi desenhado com o intuito de causar o seguinte dilema a cada jogador: i) maximizar o seu ganho e arriscar ter menos pontos que o adversário; ou ii) decidir não maximizar o seu ganho, garantindo que este não era inferior ao do seu adversário. A segunda experiência consistia num jogo do ditador com duas opções: uma escolha egoísta/altruísta (A), onde o ditador recebia mais ganho, mas o seu recipiente recebia mais que ele e uma escolha malevolente (B) que oferecia menos ganhos ao ditador que a A mas mais ganhos que o recipiente. O dilema era que se as crianças se comportassem de maneira egoísta, obtinham mais ganho para si, ao mesmo tempo que aumentavam o ganho do seu colega. Se fossem malevolentes, então prefeririam ter mais ganho que o seu colega ao mesmo tempo que tinham menos para eles próprios. As experiências foram efetuadas em escolas de duas áreas distintas de Portugal (continente e Açores) para perceber se as preferências malevolentes aumentavam ou diminuíam com a idade. Os resultados na primeira experiência sugerem que (1) os alunos compreenderam a primeira variante como um jogo de coordenação e comportaram-se como maximizadores, copiando as jogadas anteriores dos seus adversários; (2) que os alunos repetentes se comportaram preferencialmente como malevolentes, mais frequentemente que como maximizadores, com especial ênfase para os alunos de 14 anos; (3) maioria dos alunos comportou-se reciprocamente desde os 12 até aos 16 anos de idade, após os quais começaram a desenvolver uma maior tolerância às escolhas dos seus parceiros. Os resultados da segunda experiência sugerem que (1) as estratégias egoístas eram prevalentes até aos 6 anos de idade, (2) as tendências altruístas emergiram até aos 8 anos de idade e (3) as estratégias de malevolência começaram a emergir a partir dos 8 anos de idade. Estes resultados complementam a literatura relativamente escassa sobre malevolência e sugerem que este comportamento está intimamente ligado a preferências de consideração sobre os outros, o paroquialismo e os estágios de desenvolvimento das crianças.************************************************************Spite is defined as an act that causes loss of payoff to an opponent at a cost to the actor. As one of the four fundamental behaviours in sociobiology, it has received far less attention than its counterparts selfishness and cooperation. It has however been established as a viable strategy in small populations when used against negatively related individuals. Because of this, spite can either i) disappear or ii) remain at equilibrium with cooperative strategies due to the willingness of spiteful individuals to pay a cost in order to punish. This thesis sets out to understand whether propensity for spiteful behaviour is inherent or if it develops with age. For that effect, two game-theoretical experiments were performed with schoolboys and schoolgirls aged 6 to 22. The first, a 2 x 2 game, was tested in two variants: 1) a prize was awarded to both players, proportional to accumulated points; 2), a prize was given to the player with most points. Each player faced the following dilemma: i) to maximise pay-off risking a lower pay-off than the opponent; or ii) not to maximise pay-off in order to cut down the opponent below their own. The second game was a dictator experiment with two choices, (A) a selfish/altruistic choice affording more payoff to the donor than B, but more to the recipient than to the donor, and (B) a spiteful choice that afforded less payoff to the donor than A, but even lower payoff to the recipient. The dilemma here was that if subjects behaved selfishly, they obtained more payoff for themselves, while at the same time increasing their opponent payoff. If they were spiteful, they would rather have more payoff than their colleague, at the cost of less for themselves. Experiments were run in schools in two different areas in Portugal (mainland and Azores) to understand whether spiteful preferences varied with age. Results in the first experiment suggested that (1) students understood the first variant as a coordination game and engaged in maximising behaviour by copying their opponent’s plays; (2) repeating students preferentially engaged in spiteful behaviour more often than maximising behaviour, with special emphasis on 14 year-olds; (3) most students engaged in reciprocal behaviour from ages 12 to 16, as they began developing higher tolerance for their opponent choices. Results for the second experiment suggested that (1) selfish strategies were prevalent until the age of 6, (2) altruistic tendencies emerged since then, and (3) spiteful strategies began being chosen more often by 8 year-olds. These results add to the relatively scarce body of literature on spite and suggest that this type of behaviour is closely tied with other-regarding preferences, parochialism and the children’s stages of development.

Corporate social responsibility

There is general consensus nowadays that CSR is not just altruistic do-gooding but rather a way for both companies and society to prosper. Companies themselves increasingly recognize that their sustainability depends on their willingness to assume responsibility for social and environmental issues. Academic research has, in the past, tried to theorize exactly how CSR improves business, employee satisfaction and productivity. However, few studies have a) separated the different effects of internal CSR and external CSR and b) studied these effects in times of internal organizational distrust. Hence, this paper examines the relationship between each type of CSR with two outcome variables related to employee attitudes: affective organizational commitment (AOC) and turnover intentions (TI). Furthermore, it investigates whether organizational distrust works as a moderator in each of these relationships by testing the hypothesis using a sample of 212 employees from a company that is currently going through a moment of internal crisis. Findings suggest that although all variables are strongly correlated, distrust works as a moderator for external CSR but not for internal CSR. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings conclude the paper.

Environmental sustainability adoption

Double degree

The economic valuation of noise reduction projects: A cost-benefit analysis approach

The main purpose of this Work Project consists in performing a practical Cost-Benefit Analysis from a social perspective of two noise reduction projects in industrial sites that aim at complying with the existing regulation. By doing so, one may expect a more comprehensive view of the benefits and costs of both projects, as well as relevant insight to the way noise exposure regulation must be optimally defined in Portugal and within the EU area.

Ethical consumption (in)decisons

Consumers’ indecisions about the ethical value of their choices are amongst the highest concerns regarding ethical products’ purchasing. This is especially true for Fair Trade certified products where the ethical attribute information provided by the packaging is often unacknowledged by consumers. While well-informed consumers are likely to generate positive consumer reactions to ethical products and increase its ethical consumption, less knowledgeable buyers show different purchasing patterns. In such circumstances, decisions are often driven by socio-cultural beliefs about the low functional performance of ethical or sustainable attributes. For instance, products more congruent with sustainability (e.g., produce) are considered to be simpler but less tasty than less sustainable products. Less sustainable products instead, are considered to be more sophisticated and to provide consumers with more hedonic pleasures (e.g., chocolate mousse). The extent that ethicality is linked with experiences that provide consumers with more pain than pleasure is also manifested in pro-social social behaviors. More specifically through conspicuous self-sacrificial consumption experiences like running for charity in marathons with wide public exposure. The willingness of consumers to engage in such costly initiatives is moderated by gender differences and further, mediated by the chronic productivity orientation of some individuals to use time in a productive manner. Using experimental design studies, I show that consumers (1) use a set of affective and cognitive associations with on-package elements to interpret ethical attributes, (2) implicitly associate ethicality with simplicity, and that (3) men versus women show different preferences in their forms of contribution to pro-social causes.

The role of guarantees in pension plan design: Pension saving decisions

This study centers on the assessment of psychological value of guarantees in pension products and the behavior biases associated with choice. When a guarantee on a product increases from 99% to 99,5% less than half of respondents show willingness to pay in contrast with 73% when going from 99,5% to 100%. Out of 105 respondents, 55 show that their choices concerning pension products are inconsistent with classic utility theory. Financial background proves insignificant thus pointing to behavioral biases. As individuals make choices that leave them worse-off, we argue that pension plan design would highly benefit from public policy interventions.

The impact of credit conditions on market liquidity – a case for European stock markets

The recent financial crisis has drawn the attention of researchers and regulators to the importance of liquidity for stock market stability and efficiency. The ability of market-makers and investors to provide liquidity is constrained by the willingness of financial institutions to supply funding capital. This paper sheds light on the liquidity linkages between the Central Bank, Monetary Financial Institutions and market-makers as crucial elements to the well-functioning of markets. Results suggest the existence of causality between credit conditions and stock market liquidity for the Eurozone between 2003 and 2015. Similar evidence is found for the UK during the post-crisis period. Keywords: stock